Singapore, 7 January 2008...The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the prudential regulator of financial institutions in Australia.

2   The MOU provides a formal basis for supervisory cooperation between the two authorities in banking and insurance.  It paves the way for mutual assistance and sharing of supervisory information between the two authorities to strengthen the supervision of cross-border operations of financial institutions under their purview.

3   The MOU was signed by Ms Teo Swee Lian, Deputy Managing Director (Prudential Supervision), MAS, and Mr John Laker, Chairman, APRA.

***